by Andrew J. Stachowiak

Well, well, well. This was my 19th U2 show and it ranks right up there as an all-timer. I would like to see anyone complain about that setlist. U2 was in total command tonight and apparently inspired by the unbelieveable loudness and spontaneously raucious Boston crowd. Several times tonight, Bono stepped away from the microphone and kind of paused for a moment as he took the secne all in. 3 different times Bono applauded the Boston faithfull and just when you thought it couldn't get any louder it actually did. I was at Tuesday's show and the crowd was the same intensity but for some reason the band did not respond to it. Tonight the roof was blow off the place.

Now the setlist. COBL was a great beginner. No Gaelic counting tonight for Vertigo, the Spanish was back. Instead of a snipet of Stories for Boys, Bono through in a little Walk this Way. The stripped down version of Elevation was awesome and here is where I think the show turned an early corner. Gloria was received with an explosion of enthusiasm and the Ocean gave everyone a chance to catch their breath before Beautiful Day took us to another place and a snipet of Dream On at the end. MD, SYCMIOYO, and Love and Peace are a strong triple play off the new album and each carry it's own emotion. SBS and Bullet were scorchers. I have seen previous post asking that these two songs be reired. Why? SBS gets the crowd fist pumping and chanting very aggresively. It's cool to watch other people go nuts. Running to SS was epic. The Oh Oh's of Pride were sung right into Streets. How can people complain about no flood lights? There was some at the end of Streets. One was well done and the cell phone display is a special moment. The encore started with the Fly. Bono stood into the first row of fans off the elipse at the end of Until the End of the World. With or Without You and Out of Control looked to be completely unplanned. Especially the beginning of Out of Control with Bono racing to the main stage from the ramp of the elipse telling Adam - Out of Control..and Adam is changing his base line as Bono reaches his side and Bono repeats, Adam Clayton - Out of Control...The place went absolutely bonkers. The boys left the stage again before All Because of You and Origin of the Species. Fantastic. At this point you really don't know what to expect. How many times has anyone posted that this year? Bono. Adam, and the Edge huddle in front of Larry's drum riser and they break with the intro to Bad starting over the instantaneous roar of total Euphoria from the sold out audience. I was seated in the balcony and you could actually see people running back into the arena who were workers from the concourse levels of the new Bank North Garden. Wow!! As the band left to thunderous applause and Bad drifted off into the rafters, the 40 chant went on that Bono had concluded Bad with just moments ago. Thankfully, the production staff gave this sold out audience several deafening choruses of How Long To See This Song before the house lights finally came up. 2 hours and 15 minutes of greatness. An instant classic.

Anyone have an extra ticket for Saturday? :)

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